Try your skill at identifying the mothers of the following:

1. _______ My mother, an Egyptian slave, belonged to the wife of a wealthy man who was barren. Mother was given to the master in hopes she would give them a child—an action not uncommon for the times in which we lived. When my mother became pregnant, her jealous mistress treated her so harshly that she fled. The Angel of the Lord sent her back with promises that she would have a son and eventually many descendants. I was that son. When a miracle happened, and her elderly mistress finally had a son, things went from bad to worse for us both. We were sent into the wilderness to die. God heard my voice, we survived and lived to have many descendants, just as He had promised.

2. _______ My mother had several things against her: she was a gentile; she was a woman; and she had a daughter who was demon-possessed—me. Desperate, my mother went to Jesus, asking for mercy and to have the awful demon cast out. He didn't answer her at first. Then He explained He had been sent to Israel , not to gentiles. Insistently she pleaded, "Lord, help me." His reply? "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." Her response? "Even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." Because of her faith, I was healed that very hour.

3. _______ Our mother was caught in a web of political intrigue. She was the king's concubine, powerless in her own affairs, and this king brought her nothing but trouble. First his trusted advisor was accused of having slept with her, signaling a possible attempt to usurp the throne. And the king had long been violating an agreement made with the Gibeonites, a violation that finally had to be addressed. Reparation was made by hanging seven of the now deposed king's descendants—including my brother and me. Our mother refused to leave us to the mercy of wild scavengers, and she stayed there guarding our bodies for over five months until King David heard of it and had compassion. We received a proper burial by his command.

4. _______ My mother was ambitious, greedy and an adulteress. She married her uncle, Philip, my father. Then she got an eye for my father's brother. Insisting that he divorce his wife, she also divorced my father, and they married. When John the Baptist said it was not lawful for him to take his brother's wife, my mother wanted John dead. Her opportunity came when I danced at her husband's birthday celebration, and so caught his attention that he promised me whatever I asked for. Mother gave me the answer—demand the head of John the Baptist on a platter. She got what she wanted and our deed has been remembered in infamy.

(a) Herodias
(b) The Syro-Phoenician Woman
(c) Hagar
(d) Rizpah

Answers: 1. c (Genesis 16 and 21:9-21); 2. b (Matthew 15:21-28); 3. d (2 Samuel 3:7-11; 21:1-14); 4. a (Mark 6:14-28).